A homecoming on Senior Night

It wasn’t the first time Kochevar went against his alma mater as the Irish hosted the Padres in San Francisco Jan. 27, a 59-45 Serra win.

Kochevar, who was named SHC head coach last spring, is a 2003 graduate of Serra and was a three-year varsity player for Rapp and the Padres. He was the WCAL Player of the Year his senior year, highlighted by a 37-point outburst in a non-league game against Woodside, during which he set a school record with seven made 3-pointers, as he helped lead the Padres to the WCAL championship that year. He then went on to star at Sonoma State before coming back to the Peninsula to start his coaching career. In addition to his coaching stint at Serra, he had stops at Westmoor, College of San Mateo, Cañada College and was most recently the head assistant at San Francisco State.

Serra prevailed Tuesday night, posting a 76-69 overtime victory. I asked Rapp if it was weird to go against one of his former players. He said it wasn’t, that the initial butterflies were when the teams met in January.

“What he did say was weird, was going to that locker room,” Rapp said, pointing to visitor’s locker room in the Serra gym, “And going to that side of sideline (to the visitor’s bench).”

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As flag football enters its fourth season next fall, there will more rules changes for the fourth year in a row, as well.

Eight rules were added, changed or amended, the biggest of which is being discussed at the NFL level, but will be implemented at the high school first — namely, giving an offensive possession instead of an onside kick.

There is no onside kick option in flag football, but in order to give the appearance of one, the new rule states that a team that scores and is still trailing, can keep the ball and face a fourth-down and 20 from its own 20-yard line. Pick up the first down, keep the ball. Fail, and the opponent takes over at the spot.

With no kickoffs in the flag game, post-score possessions begin with a first-and-six at the 14-yard line, with first downs every 20 yards on the 80-yard field. The key is that only the team trailing can use this play.

“This will allow a team that is trailing the opportunity to run a high-risk play in order to retain possession and facilitate a potential comeback,” said Tyler Cerimeli in a press release from the NFHS. Cerimeli is the chair of the NFHS flag football rules committee and director of athletics and officials for the Arizona Interscholastic Association.

Another significant change is that the ball can no longer be stripped from a player. Rule 9-7-4, Article 4 states, “that a ball in a player possession shall not be batted, stripped or attempted to be stripped by punching, striking or grabbing the ball by a player of either team.”

And lastly, one that is sure to be interesting going forward: the use of instant replay, which is now legal to use during the postseason only. It will be up to each state to adopt the usage of such a system.

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With a 59-52 win over North Valley Baptist, the Design Tech boys’ basketball team went a perfect 12-0 in capturing the Private School Athletic League North-South Central Coast Section play-in game. The Dragons’ Noah Lin was the game MVP, scoring 21 points.

Additionally, the Pescadero High School girls’ basketball team capture its first-ever division title, winning the PSAL North Division crown with a 9-1 record. The Vikings earned the No. 10 seed in the CCS Division V bracket and will host Kehilliah-Palo Alto at 7 p.m. Friday.

Until the COVID 2020-21 season, Pescadero had played in the North Coast Section’s Bay Counties League. This is the Vikings’ first-ever CCS appearance, as well.

Nathan Mollat has been covering high school sports in San Mateo County for the San Mateo Daily Journal since 2001. He can be reached by email: nathan@smdailyjournal.com.